Dangerously “Gun Free” on the high seas
Oct 15, 2013, 4:29 PM | Updated: 4:30 pm
(AP)
Tom Hanks, Hollywood’s most admired and reliable actor, has done it again with his latest film, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. The riveting movie tells the true story of a huge U.S. tanker captured by Somali pirates in 2009.
The most amazing aspect of the tale as it unfolds on screen involves the take-over of a massive, high tech ship with a crew of more than twenty professional sailors by four barefoot desperadoes in a rickety motorboat. The pirates, however, carried semi-automatic weapons while international rules prevented the American crew from carrying any guns at all.
As Tom Hanks ruefully acknowledges, this harrowing episode carries a politically incorrect, pro-gun message. When you establish a gun-free zone, even on a formidable super-tanker, you set up an inviting and vulnerable target for ruthless bad guys who have no intention of obeying the rules.